Conveyer



PATENTED FEB. 9, 1904.

A. J. WEBSTER.

CONVBYER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 19, 1297.

N0 MODEL.

3 SHEETSSHBBT 1.

wave 0 PATENTED FEB. 9, 1904.

A. J. WEBSTER.

OONVEYER.

APPLIOATION FILED SEPT.18, 1897.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Jmew ZFr' .M M

ls mans N0 MODEL.

P-ATENTED FEB. 9, 1904. A. J. WEBSTER.

GONVEYER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18, 1897.

SHBETSSHEET 3.

no MODEL.

r UNITED STATE l Patented February 9, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED J WEBSTER, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO JOSEPH A. JEFFREY, OFCOLUMBUS, OHIO.

CONVEVYEFl- I SPEUIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. '751,85,dated February 9, 19 04.

Application filed September 18,1897. Serial-1N0. 652,173 (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, ALFRED J. Wnnsrnn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Conveyers; and I dodeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a suflicient portion of a conveyor toillustrate the manner of embodying my improvements.v Fig. 2 is across-section on the line as w of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, ona larger scale than Fig. 1, of a portion of the lower run of theconveyer, the trough in which the conveyer moves being shown inlongitudinal section. Fig. 4 is an enlarged view in section of part ofthe conveyor-chain. Fig. 5 shows the same in plan with part incross-section. Fig. 6 shows a modification of the chain. Fig. 7 is aside view of that in Fig. 6, partly in section. Fig. 8 is an edge view,and Fig. 9 a face view, of one of the bars shown in Figs. l and 5. Fig.10 is a side view, and Fig. 11 an end view, of one of the spacing andwearing devices shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Fig.1.? is an edge view of oneof the bars shown in Figs.

-6 and 7, and Fig. 13 is a side view of one of the spacing and wearingdevices shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

In the drawings I have shown my improvements as being applied to aconveyor of the sort used for advancing coal or similar mate rial alonga trough.

It is well known to those acquainted with conveyers of the styles now inuse that serious difliculties have been experienced when they areemployed for the transportation of heavy materials, such as coal and thelike. Grenerally the chains are provided with flights or scrapers, eachflight being secured to the link by means of an attachment on the link,consisting of a bar or plate integral therewith and adapted to have theflight or scraper bolted thereto. The resistance to the flights orscrapers is very great, and as they are supported practically at oneedge only this resistance results in a severe strain upon thechain-links and a constant breakage of the parts. In order to have thecarrier or powerpropelling part of suflicient strength, it has beengenerally necessary to employ two chains, or where one has been used thelinks have had to be made unduly large and heavy.

One of the objects of the present invention is to so construct the partsof the chain by which power is applied and also the parts whichsupportthe flight or scraper and to so connect the several parts thatthe pushing or propelling power can be imparted to the scraper and tothe load to greater advantage than when it is attached in the ordinarymanner or when use is made of the ordinary chains. A A indicate thedriving and the driven wheels which actuate and support the conveyer. Asthere is only one chain in the apparatus there is but a single wheel ateach end. B indicates the trough which supports the coal or othermaterial that is being transported. O is the chain referred to. Asshown, it consists of loop-links c and barlinks or straplinks 0, theends of which have pintles c and bushings seated in the curved ends ofthe loop-links c. In order to have great strength in the chain and atthe same time avoid its being rapidly cut or worn, I construct theseparts as follows: By referring to Figs. t and 5 it will be seen that thelinks 0 are formed of straps or bars of wrought iron or steel, which arebent into the form shown and welded. They may, however, be castorotherwise made by drilling or cutting from solid metal. The links acomprise the two side bars 0 0 each of which has at each end an aperture0 In the side bar 0 each aperture 0 communicates with a small groove 0The bushin'gor thim ble 0 is cylindrical and has a longitudinal aperturefor the pintle, and at one end this aperture is widened or communicateswith the slot 0 The pintle c has a main body part, a fin or web 0, and ahead 10. The fin or web 0 is adapted to fit in the groove 0 in the sidebar 0* and is long enough to also enter the groove 0 in the bushing orthimble. head 0 bears against the outside of the side bar 0. The pintleis locked at the opposite end either by riveting or by a key, as at CZ.

When the latter is used, it is well to employ a washer, as at D. Whenthe chain is made in the way described, the said parts 0 0", the pintle,and the bushing can be drop-forged, and thus made exceedingly strong andhard. The bushing is locked against rotation upon the pintle, and thepintle is locked against rotation in the link 0. Secondly, the side barso c are prevented from being cut by rotating around the pintle, and thegeneral wearingsurface of articulation between the links 0 0 is greatlyenlarged, such surface amounting to the larger part of the cylindricalsurface of the large bushing or thimble.

.In Figs. 6 and 7 a modification is shown. In this case the forming ofthe web or fin on the pintle is avoided, and when the side bars '0 a aredrop-forged each has pressed upon it a web or fin o and the bushing orthimble 0 has a slot 0 formed in each end. The side bars 0 0 are forgedto have perforated bosses 0 extending inward from their inner faces andadapted to be seated in the aperture in the bushing. After the partshave been put together the pintle C is riveted to provide a head 0 atthe end opposite to that at 0 Either of these forms of chain insuresgreat strength for the conveyer and permits the use of heavily-loadedflights.

' e The chain is mounted centrally of the trough B, the latter beingsupported on bars or beams B, and upon the tops of the lattertrack-rails b are placed. The ways or tracks formed by these rails b areparallel with the trough B and are outside thereof. This permits the useof a flight of a size and shape to entirely fill the trough in atransverse direction and permits of the supporting and steadying devicesfor the flights being arranged entirely outside of the trough, whichdevices in the construction shown consist of the wheels or rollers G.These ways or tracks are preferably flanged, so that the flanges operateas guides to cause a proper centering of the flights within the trough,and the flanges of the ways are preferably arranged between the ways ortracks and the trough, though if they were arranged along the outeredges of the tracks they would still operate to properly center theflights.

The flights or scrapers are each indicated by D. Each extends downwardfrom the chain on the transverse lines not of the link to which it isattached, but of a link in front thereof.

" Preferably the loop-links c are utilized for the The ' by bolts.

bottom parts of the loop-link, and around the rivets and between thesaid parts of the link are placed the bracing and spacing thimbles f. Atthe forward lower end of the inclined arm a there is a plate 6 which ispreferably concave on the front face. Against this the flight or scraperD is placed and is secured thereto By examining the drawings it will beseen that the pushing-arm e is applied to the scraper at a pointrelatively near the lower end of the latter, the aim being to have itbear directly behind or a little below the load of the scraper.Consequently the power is applied in such way that the action instead ofbeing that of a drive is that of a push, and the strain upon theattachment and upon the chain is greatly lessened. Then in order toovercome the increasing tendency of the flight or scraper to bedepressed I support it largely independent of the chain by rollers ortrolleywheels G. These are preferably mounted in the vertical planes ofthe scraper, and their stud-axles g are shown as having downwardlyturnedplates 9, which are bolted to the flights. By these the weight andstrain is taken from the chain and is supported by the trackrails 6,leaving nothing for the attachments to do but to apply the pushingforce.

In conveyers in which the material-transporting devices, such asflights, are attached to a single line of chain such chain is subject toviolent strains, which tend not only to rapidly wear the joints orarticulations thereof, but also to break the chain at the articulatingpoints. I have therefore in the embodiment of my invention herein shownnot only provided means for steadying and supporting the flights attheir edges, but have also devised a form of chain possessing greatstrength and so constructed as to very largely obviate or overcome thesedifliculties incident to conveyers. This I do by constructing certain ofthe links of the chain with side bars and with enlarged removablejournals which are connected with the side bars in such way that theyturn therewith, and with such links combine others which are constructedwith bearings arranged to fit the said journals, the two kinds of linksbeing united by pintles. It will thus be apparent that the articulatingparts of a chain thus constructed are large and strong and the wearingincident to the articulation of the links is entirely removed from thepintles. The material which is moved by conveyers of this character isoften of a gritty nature and tends rapidly to cut out and wear thejoints of the chain. By providing enlarged journals and bearings, suchas described, the inconveniences and objections incident to the wearingand cutting of the joints are materially reduced, as the wear is slowowing to the fact that it is distributed over relatively large surfaces,and, further, by making the wearing-journals removable I make itpossible to replace a part which has become badly worn without thenecessity of discarding the entire link.

While I have herein referred to the parts at D as flights or scrapers,it will be understood that there can be modification with respect totheir shape and character, inasmuch as at this date it is well knownthat use can be made in conveyers of rods or fingers and other forms ofmaterial-transporting devices, andit is to be understood that I do notlimit myself to the precise form of materialtransporting' device which Ihave selected for illustration.

What I claim is 1. In a conveyer, the combination of the flights, achain secured to the flights, the wheels supporting the flightsindependently of the chain, and the pushing-arms connected to theflights, substantially as set forth.

2. In a conveyer the combination of the flights, the chain secured tothe flights, the wheels supporting the flights independently of thechain, and the push-bars extending backwardly from the flights andsecured to the chain, substantially as set forth.

3. In a conveyor, the combination of the series of flights, the chain,the supportingwheels for the flights, and the pushing-arms eachconnected to a chain-link in rear of the link next adjacent to itsflight, substantially as set forth.

4. In a conveyer, the combination with a chain of a flight, a supportingwheel in the plane of the flight transverse of the chain, a pushing-barconnected to the flight and extending backward to points in rear of thewheel, and secured to the chain, substantially as set forth.

5. In a conveyer, the combination of aflight, a chain comprising aseries of link -,sections, each section having a link, 6*, and a link 0,a supporting-wheel for the flight transversely opposite to the link 0',said link being disconnected from the wheel, and a pushing-bar extendingbackward from the flight to the link a, substantially as set forth.

6. In a conveyer, the combination with the flights, of a chain havingthe links, 0, c, the link 6' being formed of separable side bars and thelink 0 being a continuous loop, the pintle connecting the links, and thebushing concentrio with the pintle and detachably locked to the link, 0,substantially as set forth.

7. In a conveyor, the combination with the flights, of a chain havingthe links 0, a, the link cbeing a loop,and the link 0' being formed oftwo separable side bars, the bushing, in the curved end of the looplink, 0, the pintle at the axis of the bushing, and means for lockingthe side bars of the link 0 to the bushing against rotation,substantially as set forth.

8. In a conveyer, the combination ofa chain, a series of flights orscrapers each lying in the transverse planes of a chain-link, butdisconnected therefrom and a push-bar connected to the flight and to alink in rear of that adjacent to the flight, whereby the chain-linksimmediately adjacent to the flights are free to rise and fallindependently thereof, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination with the chain of the series of flights, and apush-bar for each flight connected to the chain at points in rear of thelink adjacent to its flight and means for supporting each flightindependently of the chain, substantially as set forth.

10. The combination of a chain, a series of flights secured thereto, atrough, and means connected to the flights independent of the chain'andarranged outside of the trough for centering the flights in the trough,substantially as set forth.

11 The combination of the strap-metal looplinks, the intermediate linkseach formed of two parallel side bars, one of the side bars being formedwith a non-circular opening in its end, a pintle formed with aweb or finfitted to the said non-circular opening in the side bar, a spacing andwearing piece also fitted to and locked on the pintle, and thematerial-transporting devices connected with and moved by the chainformed of the said links, substantially as set forth.

12. In a conveyer, the combination, with the material transportingdevices, of a chain adapted to move the said transporting devicescomprising a link formed of two parallel side bars, one of the side barsbeing formed with a non-circular opening near its end, a pintle foruniting said side bars and'having a projection arranged to fit the saidnon-circular opening in one of such side bars, a detachable wearingpiece or journal adapted to fit upon the pintle and locked thereonagainst rotation, and an adjacentstrap-metal loop-link having a bearingin which the said journal or wearing piece fits and articulates,substantially as set forth.

'13. In aconveyer the combination of a chain, a series of flightssecured to the chain and arranged transversely thereof and extendingbeyond the edges of the chain in opposite directions, a trough in whichthe flights travel. and the means for supporting and steadying theflights, carried by the latter independently of the chain and extendingbeyond the outer edges thereof and of the trough, substantially as setforth.

14:. In a conveyor, the combination of a chain, a series of flightssecured thereto, a trough in which the flights move, ways or tracksarranged outside the trough, flanges separating the said ways from thetrough, and supports for the flights traveling upon the said ways,

substantially as set forth.

15. In a conveyer the combination of a chain, a series of flightssecured thereto and extend ing laterally to each side of the chain, atrough in which the flights move, ways or tracks arranged outside thetrough and parallel therewith, supports for the flights arranged totravel upon the said Ways or tracks, and guiding-flanges arranged alongthe edges of the tracks to center the flights in the trough,substantially as set forth.

16. In a conveyer the combination of a chain, a series of flightssecured thereto and extendinglaterally to each side of the chain, atrough in which the flights move, supporting and I guiding Wheelscarried by the flights inde- IO pendently of the chain, Ways or tracksarranged outside of the trough and parallel therewith upon which thesaid Wheels travel, and the flanges arranged between the Ways and thetrough, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in I 5

